Stuart Hunter (Canwest News Service) Vancouver, B.C. - The RCMP is “anxious” to participate in an upcoming Taser inquiry and is working toward restoring public confidence in the wake of a series of high-profile investigations of officers, Commissioner William Elliott says.
Speaking to a lunch meeting of the Vancouver Board of Trade, Elliott - the force’s 22nd commissioner and first civilian head - said his officers will readily take part in the inquiry slated to resume Jan. 19.
“We are anxious to participate to the fullest extent possible,” Elliott told reporters. “We are anxious to participate because . . . we cannot provide effective policing services to communities without the support of those communities.
“We have to be held accountable and we are anxious to be held accountable. (But Judge Thomas) Braidwood and others need to understand there are some limits to what we can do, particularly prior to the provincial Crown making a decision about potential charges.”
Elliott just shrugged when told of Braidwood’s threat to subpoena officers to testify into the Tasering and subsequent death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver airport on Oct. 17, 2007.
Elliott acknowledged the force has suffered some black eyes lately - particularly in light of an impaired driving investigation involving Cpl. Benjamin Monty Robinson on Oct. 25 in Delta where motorcyclist Orion Hutchinson, 21, was killed in a collision.
Robinson is one of the officers who was at the airport when Dziekanski died. He has not been charged in either case.
“The incidents you refer to certainly are very serious incidents,” Elliott said. “It is important for the public to keep them in context and it is important for the public to have faith in the independent systems we have in place to review our activities.”
Elliott said the RCMP and 70 police departments and agencies this week have been taking part in a three-day Olympic security training program.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Alcan // Nov 15, 2008 at 12:50
Two things stand out in this article;
Public Confidence
Trust
None in which comes automatic and by the way they are operating it seems they will do little but buy time in the hope it will work out for them once again and everything will be preceived to be cosure and on their side without having to make to much changes. But events show us different I think when people are still the loosers. If you wanted to restore confidence why did you have to setup the BC inquiry before you came forth and said you would attend. It seems at least that justice is not the main focus here getting off the officers is like the rest of the cases were. Good luck in your striving.
2 chilled // Nov 17, 2008 at 01:10
Lets leave all the mamby pamby theroetical discussions aside. Only ONE thing needs to be changed and everything else will fall into place. Cops need to be fired like anyone else in the working world who screws up. FIRED shouldn’t mean a buyout that resembles winning the lottery. It really is that simple.
3 Onegin1 // Nov 19, 2008 at 20:09
It’s surely not that simple. What is “screwing up”? What level of “screwup” justifies a firing?
As Deepthroat is fond of pointing out, cops are human, and humans “screw up”. When cops that are too scared to act in earnest for fear of “screwing up” and losing their job, we’ll have an entirely new set of policing problems.
4 Deepthroat // Nov 20, 2008 at 21:18
Everybody knows that you cannot fire people from any job because they have a medical problem, which includes alcoholism. You cannot fire people without due process. You also cannot fire people for legitimate mistakes made in good faith. Check your case law chilled.
If you want to fire people summarily you have to have the firing offenses listed when they sign on, and you have to be consistent. Any deviation from the process is cause for Federal Court action in the case of Federal body decisions.
And as onegin1 notes, new problems for your wholesale approach, including what about false accusations?
5 tracker07 // Nov 22, 2008 at 17:47
Care to add a caveat or two.
Accountability and public safety. Are the keystones to our judicial system.
No profession is immune and no individual is immune from accountability.
“Everybody knows that you cannot fire people from any job because they have a medical problem, which includes alcoholism”
Depends on; employer’s responsibility /employee’s responsibility / undue hardship to employer/ condition of employment. Maybe you should take your own advice, be informed. Not misinformed
6 Deepthroat // Nov 27, 2008 at 21:16
http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/dept-min/pub/just/02.html
“…Laws help to ensure a safe and peaceful society in which people’s rights are respected. The Canadian legal system respects individual rights, while at the same time ensuring that our society operates in an orderly manner. An essential principle is that the same law applies to everybody, including the police, governments and public officials, who must carry out their public duties according to the law…..”
http://www.lawyers-bc.com/wrongdis/articles/cause.htm
“…..In order to fire an employee without giving him notice or severance pay, you must prove real incompetence or serious misconduct, with objective evidence of particular incidents. Concerns over future misconduct or dissatisfaction with job performance are not enough. It also doesn’t matter if you dislike him. If the employee can provide a **reasonable excuse** for the misconduct, you do not have just cause for dismissing him……”
Read medical conditions related to firing for cause in case law: http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/
In case you missed the Federal court reference:
http://cas-ncr-nter03.cas-satj.gc.ca/portal/page/portal/fc_cf_en/Index
“The Federal Court is Canada’s national trial court which hears and decides legal disputes arising in the federal domain, including claims against the Government of Canada, civil suits in federally-regulated areas and challenges to the decisions of federal tribunals. Its authority derives primarily from the Federal Courts Act.”
Any decision made by the RCMP and its various organs is considered a federal body. therefore any decision such as promotion, discipline, firing, hiring, etc, is subject to appeal to the Federal court with respect to the principles of natural justice, and/or procedural fairness.
And don’t forget the ERC:
http://www.erc-cee.gc.ca/english/main.html
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